


Pride

by Sasa_Q



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: A little bit of homophobia (thanks Cardassians), Garak's sexuality is because of an Andrew J Robinson quote I found :), Garashir - Freeform, M/M, Trans Bashir, wholesome fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24767455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasa_Q/pseuds/Sasa_Q
Summary: Garak and Julian attend a pride parade on Earth.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55





	Pride

It was the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, and Julian and Garak were in London. It was an unusually warm day, and Garak was loving the heat. Julian was sweating, even in his tank top and shorts. Garak was dressed more modestly, as he believed befitted a Cardassian, and he felt fine, being Cardassian, most used to the heat.

"Are you sure we're in the right spot, dear?" Garak asked. "We seem to be a bit lost." They had decided to walk to the start of the parade together from their hotel.

"No," Julian insisted. "We're supposed to be- ah, here we are." They turned the corner, and suddenly both of their visions were flooded by a plethora of people in bright colors waving multicolored flags.

A smile broke across Julian's face. "It's been too long since I've been to one of these," he said.

Garak couldn't help but smile, too, looking at Julian. "I can tell that this makes you happy," he said. And that makes me happy too, he thought. "Let's join the parade. It should be on its way any minute now."

The two of them joined the mass of people. Garak recognized a few aliens, but it was largely made up of humans. He felt a bit, well, alienated. But with Julian holding his hand, he felt a bit better.

"Thank you again for making my flags," said Julian. He had two of them, one with pink, blue, and white stripes, blue on the outside, pink inside, with white at the very center. The second flag was dark pink, purple, and blue, with the center purple stripe smaller than the other two stripes. They represented his identities of being transgender and bisexual. Garak had sewed the flags himself, refusing to let Julian go to the pride parade with a flag he had replicated.

"Oh, it wasn't a problem," Garak assured him. "I rather enjoyed making them. Perhaps I'll make more and sell them at my shop on the promenade." His flag was more complicated. It consisted of two shades of pink, a dark color you almost couldn't tell was blue or black, and two (more) shades of blue. He had never really had reason to label his sexuality, but after a long talk with Julian about Earth sexualities, he had decided upon the label omnisexual. It was a label he liked, was comfortable with. Of course, as a Cardassian, he felt strange assigning such a "deviant" label to himself...

"What are you thinking about, Elim?" Julian asked. He squeezed Garak's hand.

Garak smiled. There was sadness in his eyes. "Cardassia," he said. "How such a thing would never be allowed to happen there."

"Hey," said Julian softly, "it's okay. You're on Earth now. You don't have to worry about Cardassia. Did you know, the first pride parade was a riot?"

"That sounds most interesting," said Garak.

The parade began to move, and Garak and Julian with it, along the street. It didn't move very fast, but Garak didn't mind. He was still taking in the sights. There were so many different people, all of different shapes, sizes, and colors, wearing everything from the most modest to the most scandalous and scanty clothing. Some people held signs. "Be Proud" one of them read. "This is what pride looks like" said another one.

"Pride month commemorates the Stonewall riots that happened in America in 1969," said Julian as they walked. "It-"

Suddenly, someone approached them. "I love your flags!" the person said in Federation Standard. They appeared to be a human, and their flag matched Julian's transgender flag.

"Thank you," said Garak. "I made them."

"You're a Cardassian!" the person said, surprised.

"Excuse me, is there something wrong with him being Cardassian?" Julian said hotly. Garak bit back a smile. Julian could get so defensive over him sometimes.

"No, not at all," said the person. "I just wanted to ask if I could take a holo of you two. You look like a cute couple."

Flattery. Julian was always the victim of it. "Oh, sure!" Julian said. "That is, if you don't mind, Garak."

Garak did kind of mind, but he wanted to make Julian happy. "Of course," he said. The two posed standing next to each other, Garak's arm over Julian's shoulders, both waving their pride flags. The person positioned their holo-photography device, and after a second, the holo was taken.

"Thank you!" the person said, and moved on.

"What if that person knows about my past? What if they want to reveal my sexuality to the Cardassian government?" Garak asked Julian.

"Oh, Elim, I'm sure they just saw that we look good together and wanted to take a holo to remember us," said Julian. Garak still worried, but he didn't say so. He never wanted to impress his worryings upon Julian. If he could flip a switch to make Julian happy and content for the rest of his life, he would do it in a heartbeat, and maybe even forget think about the price he would have to pay.

The parade moved on. London was a nice place, Garak decided. Very strange compared to Kardasi'or or Deep Space Nine, but it was nice.

And all the different people! There were people of all genders and sexualities, and all expressions. Garak saw a lot of lovely fashion, and he took many mental notes about it. All the people looked so happy with themselves, so proud. It made Garak glad to see them happy, but he still thought about Cardassia and the discrimination against such people there.

All of these people would be locked up and treated with aggressive psychotherapy in Cardassia. They would be shunned by their friends, disowned by their families. For once, Garak was glad he wasn't on Cardassia. It gave him a rare chance to be proud of himself.

It seemed like a silly concept, at first. Why would he need to feel proud about his sexuality? But Julian explained it to him. "I'm proud of my sexuality and my gender because of the journey I've made with both of them, both in society and as a person," Julian had said. "I'm proud to be myself, and that I get to be myself, that I'm accepted." After that, Garak had realized what Julian meant. He supposed he was proud of himself. It did feel like he had something to be proud of. He had faced adversity, and he was proud for still recognizing himself and his sexuality despite it. He had clearly made progress. Before he met Julian, he would have never considered marching in a pride parade.

At the end of the parade, Garak and Julian were both worn out from a day of walking. They returned to their hotel room.

"Did you have fun?" asked Julian.

Garak thought about the day, all the different types of people he had seen, all so proud to be themselves. How he was finally learning to be proud of himself.

"You know what?" Garak said. "I think I did."

"Good," Julian said. He kissed Garak the human way, mouth to mouth, passionate and hot. Garak kissed back. It had taken him a while to get used to human kissing, but he realized he liked it very, very much.

"We still have another day before we take the shuttle to the ship that'll take us back to Deep Space Nine," said Julian. "The pride parade is over, but there are still events we can go to."

"I can think of something we could do," said Garak.

"Oh?" said Julian. "I'm listening."

Do Not Disturb, read the sign on their hotel room door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd love if you gave a comment to tell me what you think. Happy pride!


End file.
